Latency can be described as the amount of time it takes for a packet of data to propagate from a transmitter to a receiver. The total latency includes overhead time for time spent sending and receiving commands and executing reads and writes, and performing additional functions to ensure that the data can reach the correct destination without errors. For large data packets, achieving large bandwidth becomes critical, whereas low latency can be important for small data packets. Reducing the overhead time and therefore the overall latency time for small data packets can help lead to better performance and faster processing in networks and message-based applications.